Re: BigKev's 1954 Packard Clipper Deluxe Sedan

Posted by BigKev On 2011/8/18 10:29:25

Brian,

The C2C panels are about 85% correct to the floor in my Clipper. The bead dies they are using are not a 100% match for the OEM ones. And the shape on the floor where the drop down is a little to one side from the original floor. Also the transition from the floor to the toe board is a sharp bend, and not a radiused bend. But all of these are fixable with a little adjusting and a hammer. You can tell by the pencil marks on the panel that it was formed using a brake and a bead roller as opposed to stamping. So I think unless someone has at the skill and tools to make a pan from scratch, these are about as close of a replacement pan as one is going to get.

I am actually going to seam weld the entire pan into place using a "skip" weld technique to prevent warpage. So that is the reason I didn't punch the flange. Once welded, I will get up under the car and body hammer any lip from the original metal flat with the bottom of the new pan, and then apply seam sealer and paint. The plan was to drill down through the new pan over the floor braces, and then plug weld them to the floor braces to reproduce the spot welds close to were they were originally.

There are a couple of spots on the back floor were the body mount locations are rusted out in the floor pan from water pooling in those low areas. But the rest of the surrounding metal is good. So I need to figure out how to create that embossed depression in some sheet metal so I can cut those out and replace them. Perhaps I can create a hammerform using a stack of large washers or something